The shoulder has a wide and versatile range of motion. When something goes wrong with your shoulder, it hinders your ability to move freely and causes a great deal of pain and discomfort.
Several factors and conditions can contribute to shoulder pain. The most prevalent cause is rotator cuff tendinitis. Rotator cuff tendinitis, also known as tendonitis or impingement syndrome, affects the tendons and muscles that help move your shoulder joint. If you suffer from tendinitis, chances are your tendons are inflamed or irritated.
Symptoms for this condition include stiffness, loss of mobility, decreased strength in the arm, pain when reaching behind your back, a clicking sound when raising your arm, and shoulder stiffness. Thus, it affects the mobility of the affected arm.
Another common cause of shoulder pain is the result of injury to another location in your body. Other causes of shoulder pain can include:
- Arthritis
- Torn cartilage
- Swollen bursa sacs or tendons
- Torn rotator cuff
- Frozen shoulder
- Dislocated shoulder
- Spinal cord injury
- Bone spurs
How to Prevent Shoulder Pain
Doing simple shoulder exercises can help stretch and strengthen muscles and rotator cuff muscles. If you’ve had previous shoulder issues, a cold compress for 15 minutes after exercising is helpful to prevent future injuries. Also, performing simple range-of-motion exercises every day can keep you from getting a frozen shoulder after having rotator cuff tendinitis.
How to Manage Symptoms
Unless you’ve had a serious injury, you can often treat your shoulder pain without seeing a doctor. If, after a few weeks of personal treatment, you feel the pain is persisting, you should seek an Acupuncturist or Physical Therapist for supportive therapy or a possible referral. Simple painkillers, such as ibuprofen and glucosamine can also help.
Acupuncture
Whether it be an acute injury, frozen shoulder, or chronic discomfort, acupuncture can help manage your shoulder pain. Acupuncture, cupping and massage can be tremendously helpful in naturally managing a shoulder injury, and may even help resolve the pain completely.
Acupuncture is a natural therapy being used for shoulder pain treatment by releasing chemical compounds in the body that relieve pain, and allowing for smooth blood flow freely throughout the body, thus reducing cramping, tingling and pain.